


Detours

by zizza24



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29274330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zizza24/pseuds/zizza24
Summary: In which Will and Mackenzie take little Charlie to Nebraska to see her aunts, but Will wants to make a detour while they’re in town.
Relationships: Will McAvoy/MacKenzie McHale
Comments: 8
Kudos: 9





	Detours

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first time completing/posting a Newsroom story so I'm incredibly nervous. I obviously do not own any of the characters. There is some vulgar language used, if that's not your thing. Enjoy!

The air was very still as he parked the car. It was early, the sun barely coming up, and the only noises he could hear were coming from Charlie in the back seat, babbling nonsense and turning the pages of a book she insisted made the trip with them. Sometimes it still didn’t feel real. The wedding band on his left finger, Mackenzie in the passenger seat staring out her window, and his little girl in the seat behind them, looking just like her mother and at times, a little bit like his. 

“Billy?” Her voice was gentle, and he felt her hand squeeze around his thigh in a very comforting way. A way that told him she was here, that she wasn’t going anywhere, and to take all the time he needed. 

He covered her hand with his, squeezing back, a silent thank you. He moved to step out of the car but stopped when he heard a small “Daddy?” come from the back. Will smiled, still not quite used to hearing her say that. He stepped around to the back door and opened it, now much closer to his baby girl. She smiled and repeated herself when she saw him. 

“Daddy’s gonna be right back, baby.” He leaned in and pressed the softest kiss to her tiny forehead, and she almost immediately turned her attention back to her book. Will made eye contact with Mackenzie one last time before he closed the car door and started his trek across the wilted grass. 

He had absolutely no idea why he was here. In Nebraska, sure. He wanted to see his sisters and they wanted to see Charlie and while Nebraska wasn’t the typical vacation spot, he and Mac both needed some time away from work. But here, at the cemetery? He couldn’t quite figure it out. Was it guilt? Was it fear? Was it anger? Truth be told, it could be all of the above. But most of all, it was sadness. He didn’t exactly miss his father, because how can you miss someone who’s just the most vile and disgusting human being on the planet? How do you miss someone who always said you’d never amount to anything, someone who never had any faith in you? Will spent his entire life trying to make his father proud and always came up short. Why? What was it that Will needed to do to win his approval? 

He was certain he knew the answer to that question, but there was no way he’d ever become that man. 

Will approached a small headstone and let out the breath he had been holding. He turned around to look at the car, Mackenzie now standing in the grass with Charlie, and smiled. He didn’t care if his father could never be proud of his accomplishments. Will was proud of his own. 

“You’re a ruthless son of a bitch, you know that?” He questioned as he turned back to the grave. “Of course you know that. You said it yourself. To me, to mom, to the girls. You didn’t care who you hurt, and you didn’t care who knew the real you.” Will paused. “I don’t know why I’m here. Mac thinks it’s for closure, since we didn’t get it the night you died. Don thinks it’s because I always need to have the last word, and he could be onto something with that.” Another pause. “I finally married Mac. God, she’s incredible. We had a baby, a little girl. Named her Charlie. She’s perfect in every way, just like her mother.” Will shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “I guess I can say thank you. I thought maybe I’d end up just like you when I became a parent. But the truth is, I just had to do exactly the opposite of everything you ever did for us to be a good dad to Charlie. And she loves me. Well, I hope she does. I’ll ask her when I get back to the car.” 

He lifted his left hand from his pocket and rested it against the warm stone. “Fuck you for ever making me doubt myself. Everything I did, I did it to impress you. To try and make you proud. And you fucking crushed me every. single. time,” he emphasized the end of the sentence. “And it wasn’t until I was holding Charlie in my arms for the first time that I realized I didn’t need your approval. I never needed you to be okay with what I was doing. Because honestly dad, you were a shit judge of character.” Tears were burning at the corners of his eyes and he moved his hand back from the stone. “I wish things could’ve been different with us, with you. I wish I didn’t have the memories I have of you. I wish Charlie could’ve grown up with you and mom around. But lucky for me, it’s impossible to turn back time.” 

Will pressed his hand to his lips, then to the gravestone. “Bye, dad.” 

He turned around to walk back to the car, spotting Mac with Charlie in her arms immediately. Will wasn’t positive he’d ever feel closure. He was honest in saying he wished things with his father could’ve been different, but then what? Would he have ever met Mac? Would he have made his way to ACN? There wouldn’t be a Charlie, or maybe there would be, but not with the right woman. As much pain as he went through with his father and the life he forced them through, without it, Will might never have found exactly what he was looking for all this time. 

When he finally made it to his wife and daughter, he wanted to cry. Really cry. But instead, he kissed Mac softly on the lips. “I love you,” he whispered. “And I promise I’ll always love you.” 

Mac smiled. “I know you will. And I love you too.” Charlie had her head rested on Mac’s shoulder, and he couldn’t believe how much she looked just like her mother. 

Will reached out to hold his daughter’s tiny hand in his, giving it a squeeze, just like he and Mackenzie always did with each other. “We should go, they’re expecting us.” He lifted Charlie from Mac’s hip into his own arms, wanting to hold her as close as possible. Her little arms wrapped around his neck and her face felt gently against his own shoulder and she honestly looked so small against his giant frame. “I promise to always protect you, baby girl. I hope you know that.” 

Mac rubbed her daughter's back, trying to keep her own tears from streaming down her face. Will kissed Charlie’s hair before opening the back door and dipping her down into her car seat. Her big eyes and bright smile could light up even the darkest of spaces, and they always made Will so thankful. Thankful for her and her love and her mother. He had ruined a lot of things in the past, but he wasn’t ruining this. 

He and Mac both got back into the car quietly, starting towards his sister’s house to see his family. There would be lots of laughs and food and probably pictures, so Will made sure to soak in the quiet on the ride over. As he left the cemetery and turned onto the main road, he felt Mac’s hand on his thigh again, a gentle squeeze, and he couldn’t help but smile. He might be in Nebraska, in his hometown, but the truth was: home was wherever he had his girls with him.


End file.
